Q: At our son's middle-school orientation, the principal asked parents to help teens develop the "habits of mind" of good students. It sounded great, but when I got home I wondered what she meant. Does she mean study skills?

A: Not exclusively. To be sure, study skills, such as the ability to focus on a task, manage one's time and take responsibility for assignments, help students succeed. But I'm betting that she means more than just turning in homework on time or getting the right answers on a math test.

This principal wants students to develop skills that will help them when they don't know the answers, suggests Dr. Arthur L. Costa, emeritus professor of education at California State University, Sacramento.

"It means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties," he says.

Costa and his colleague, Bena Kallick, identified 16 "habits of mind" (www.habitsofmindinstitute.org) that help students become effective, curious lifelong learners. They include:

-- persistence

-- thinking and communicating with clarity and precision

-- managing impulsivity

-- gathering data through all senses

-- listening with understanding and empathy

-- creating, imagining, innovating

-- thinking flexibly

-- responding with wonderment and awe

-- thinking about thinking (metacognition)

-- taking responsible risks

-- striving for accuracy

-- finding humor

-- questioning and posing problems

-- thinking interdependently

-- applying past knowledge to new situations

-- remaining open to continuous learning

Many school district leaders find that teaching these "habits of mind provide a well-researched approach for college and career readiness," says Margo Ulmer, a school board president in Naples, New York. "We know that mastering content is only one aspect of academic success."

Educators like Carol Dweck of Stanford University and Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania are applying the findings of other researchers. They've shown in separate studies how attitudes and character traits such as grit, self-control, goal-orientation and a growth mindset (a belief that one's abilities can be developed through effort and hard work) can trump IQ in learning. Paul Tough describes their research in "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character" (Mariner Books, 2013).

When students develop these habits of mind in middle school, says Ulmer, "they increase their ability to persevere, reason, research and solve problems. They become stronger students in high school and have an easier transition to college work. They also have a foundation for the collaborative, problem-solving work required in many of today's careers."

These habits are especially important in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects, says researcher Ryan Stowe of Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, which conducts biomedical research. Stowe works with STEM teachers in Palm Beach County.

"Content knowledge, like knowing the definition of a molecule, is important, but equally important is acquiring a scientific disposition," he says. "The real world is a messy, inexact place where one is often confronted with nebulous situations for which no easy solutions exist. When we teach students to tackle these scenarios in a thoughtful manner, they learn to think like a scientist. Such a disposition predisposes one to seek uncertainty, learn from failure and be comfortable with ambiguity."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: My 12-year-old is part of the "Google it" generation when she has to research reports. Some of the stuff she finds (and thinks is true) is just goofy. Should we invest in an encyclopedia for her? What kinds of reference materials should parents provide for kids?

A: There is an assumption among digital natives that a quick Google search and a Wikipedia entry will give them all the information they need, says Carl Harvey, library media specialist at North Elementary School in Noblesville, Indiana.

"It can be a start," he says, "but educators work hard to teach students to take the next step -- verify that the information is accurate. It's an important skill. We want students to learn that not everything you read on the Internet is true and that good researchers check multiple sources. We love it when parents reinforce this at home."

Students should have access to a reputable encyclopedia for homework. Before you purchase a set or a digital subscription, check with your school librarian, suggests Harvey.

"Many schools allow students to log in to digital encyclopedias and other online databases from home with their passwords," he says. "For example, Indiana provides access to an encyclopedia and many other online databases in their INSPIRE database. Any resident has access."

Many public libraries provide members with access to online encyclopedias with login/passwords for accessing them from home as well, says Harvey.

"We are open for homework hours," says Blanche Warner, a library manager in Naples, New York. "We work closely with our schools to have resources available to students. If seventh-graders are researching the local ecosystem, we are ready with maps, charts, books, photos and digital resources."

If you're thinking of purchasing an encyclopedia, look at World Book and Britannica, suggests Harvey. He leans toward digital subscriptions because they're less expensive and "information is updated as the need arises, where a book is only updated at the next printing."

Your choice -- digital or paper -- depends on your budget and your objective, says Mike Ross, an executive at Encyclopaedia Britannica.

"Some parents purchase a digital subscription to Britannica, along with a print set of Britannica Kids," he says. "The digital multimedia products are easy to search and always current. But those enticing volumes on the shelf invite browsing and kick-start a kid's curiosity when she pulls one out to read."

Every child should have a print children's dictionary, says El Paso, Texas, elementary educator Lisa Schoenbrun.

"Children learn more about words and their histories when they look them up in a dictionary than when they simply type the word into a database," she says. "Look up 'handbag' and on the pages your daughter will also discover 'handball,' 'handbook,' 'handcuffs,' 'handful,' 'handicap,' 'handicraft,' 'hand-me-down,' 'handstand.' Having a dictionary on hand helps build vocabulary."

Other reference books such as almanacs and atlases are inexpensive, motivating resources that add knowledge in bits, says Harvey.

"TIME For Kids, National Geographic and World Almanac publish annually," he says. "A series like the 'TIME For Kids Big Book of Why' is fun reading. Put these books where the whole family can browse and start conversations that lead to new learning."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: I'm told our school doesn't teach handwriting anymore because of the Common Core. I think that's really dumb. My daughter was looking forward to learning this. What can be done about it?

A: Don't blame the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Handwriting instruction began declining 20 years ago. Increased use of technology for assignments and testing, more instructional time given to other subjects, and a growing assumption that cursive was a "horse and buggy" skill in a digital age has led to less emphasis on it in schools.

But many educators and parents think handwriting shouldn't go the way of the typewriter. Research shows that knowing cursive handwriting can increase a student's attention span, language fluency, physical coordination and ability to retain information.

Studies also show that the act of writing stimulates creativity in the brain, says handwriting expert Thomas Wasylyk, author of the "Universal Handwriting" series (Universal Publishing, 2014).

"People tend to remember things they write more than things they key in," he says. "About 90 percent of all writing assignments in grades K through 6 are done with a pencil and paper, so why stop teaching a skill that is used every day, by every student, in every subject?"

Cursive makes it easy to get thoughts on paper quickly, notes Kathleen Wright, product manager for handwriting at Zaner-Bloser ("an educational curricula and digital resources provider").

Knowing cursive boosts reading power, too. Greta Love, a New York librarian, helps college students hone research skills. She was surprised to discover that many can't read primary source materials such as historical documents because they'd never learned cursive.

While it's true that handwriting isn't part of the Common Core, many states that have adopted the standards continue to offer cursive instruction -- among them California, Massachusetts, Florida and North Carolina.

If you think your child should learn cursive, and you can't get your district to reinstate it, teach it at home, says Sharon Paul, a Massachusetts educator.

"With the right materials to model how to make the strokes properly," she says, "it's one subject that's easy to 'homeschool.'"

Make it fun and interactive -- not drudgery -- says Wasylyk.

"Young children can start very early with large writing instruments like crayons on large pieces of unlined paper, or newspaper spread out on the floor or taped to a wall," he says. "My method of teaching manuscript and cursive handwriting is fun and engaging for the teacher and the students. There is a difference between teaching and assigning. Assigning handwriting, where the student practices the letter 50 times, very seldom has good results. Handwriting is a skill and must be taught using a planned, sequential approach." (Find Walsylyk's series at www.upub.net.)

Paul helped her son build faster note-taking skills using the "Handwriting Without Tears" method of instruction (www.hwtears.com). "Our goal was learning simple, basic strokes through 15 minutes a night -- never a minute longer," she says.

Just as kids are proud to read their first book on their own, "a child cannot wait to write his or her name in upper- and lower-case letters," says Wasylyk. "They can't wait to reach this milestone in their intellectual development."

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)